Is it still worth going to the Red Light District in Amsterdam?
Just by looking at your profile, if you’d like to see something you’ll never see in The United States – namely women and men sitting in shop windows selling their bodies for sexual purposes – then you’ll see it in Amsterdam. Touching, of course is an whole other kettle of fish. “I’ve already heard that the atmosphere has changed.” Well, I’ve been passing through Amsterdam on business for about fifteen years now, and the atmosphere has definitely changed – for the worse. Until about six years ago the Red Light district was very small, and very, very low key. Almost a pleasure to walk stroll through at night, morality issues aside. Now The Red Light district is big business, few European women to be seen, and, as Chillmost already pointed out, large crowds of inebriated stag dudes and dudettes partying hardy through the night, hooting and hollering and (frequently!) falling into the canals with the occasional unhappy ending. The Red Light district has markedly expanded and spread out, so
I’m living in Amsterdam now and the RLD is still going strong. I don’t know how quickly or how much of the RLD is going to be shut down, but if you came here now, you wouldn’t have a problem finding a girl you’d like. From talking to folks here, I’ve learned the average cost is about E50, or close to US$75, for what is known as a 20-minute “suck-and-fuck”. (A tip I’ve heard is that you need to negotiate exactly what you want, from what you can touch to how much they are wearing.) If you are looking to maximize your bang for the buck, there are other places, such as Mexico, that might be better. I recommend checking out worldsexguide.com for people’s reviews of brothels and prostitutes around the world.
I’ve never been a customer, but I’ve probably walked through half of the red light districts in western Europe and yes, you can skip Amsterdam’s unless you really like crowds of drunk guys hooting and hollering. Prostitution is legal all over the Netherlands, Germany, and I think Belgium as well, so you don’t need to feel like you can only go to Amsterdam. Pick any city with a reasonably large population and you’ll find there’s a red light district there that’s more low-key (and presumably cheaper if you make sure to discuss the price and details before getting down to business) than Amsterdam’s tourist attraction of one.
As others have pointed out every major city in the Netherlands has legalized prostitution. The RLD in Amsterdam is a horrible tourist trap, so it isn’t necessarily representative of the industry as a whole. I would recommend going somewhere like The Hague (Den Haag) and finding the RLD (actually as I recall there are three) to see the grim reality of what these places are (I only mention Den Haag as I used to live there but I’m sure its representative of many other cities in the Netherlands.) I’ve never been a customer and I am not in any way passing judgment, but if you have the idea that these places are like some paradisaical adult playground then you’re way off.
